Ajdabiya Line

The Ajdabiya Line (26 November-2 December 1942) was a battle of the Western Desert Campaign of World War II fought between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, with some Italian units backing the Germans up. The Germans retreated towards Tunisia following the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the British 8th Army broke through Erwin Rommel's defensive positions set up near the town of Ajdabiya in order to push towards Tunisia.

Background
On 4 November 1942, the Second Battle of El Alamein ended in a British victory when Erwin Rommel decided to withdraw his Afrika Korps from Egypt and retreat towards Tunisia, and Bernard Montgomery's British 8th Army pursued him. On 13 November 1942, the British recaptured Tobruk from Nazi Germany, and on 23 November the Germans abandoned the town of Ajdabiya. At this point, Rommel decided to leave behind two German forces and four Italian units to hold back the Allied advance, with his troops laying mines and throwing steel helmets in the sand to delay the British pursuit. The inevitable battle came on 26 November when the British launched an assault against the Axis Powers forces.

Battle
Rommel left the capable Oberstleutnant Eckhard Beutler in command of the German forces, while the Italians had various commanders of little note. Montgomery decided to dispatch Colonel Aiden Harvey with a division of British soldiers to launch an attack on the German positions to the south of Ajdabiya, hoping to encircle the Axis forces along the shore. The Italian forces were in larger number than the Wehrmacht, but they were poorly-equipped and not suited to fight on their own. As a result, their command duties were delegated to Beutler, although their nominal commanders were Leonio Siani and Oreste Carboni.

The German commander Beutler correctly anticipated such a move, but he wrongly dispatched his weaker 4th Division to the southern flank, leaving the stronger 2nd Division in the north. The 4th Division had been weakened when all of its armor had been stripped to be sent to the 2nd Division, and its commander Heinz Glueckmann complained of the difficulty that his division faced. Beutler decided to ignore these complaints and decided to sit still as the British assaulted his positions, hoping that his armored offensive to the north would be sufficient to defeat the British.

Unfortunately for the Axis forces, the British launched a heavy assault on German and Italian positions to the south of the line, with a heavy Royal Air Force barrage devastating the Italian armored forces that were available to the southern flank. Brigadier-General Carboni was killed in the bombardment, and Siani decided to have the two Italian divisions retreat north to meet up with the others, as they were sitting ducks without armor support. This allowed for the Germans to smash Glueckmann's division, sending the Germans fleeing towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Harvey planned out the next offensive against the Axis forces, but his plans were interrupted with a fierce Italian assault on the northern sector of the British forces, the area manned by the 22nd and 19th Divisions. The Italians lost 101 tanks in the attack, and their armored segment was so badly impaired that it was merged into the German armored division instead. At this point, Siani wanted to order a withdrawal, but Beutler disagreed and decided to hold his ground. The British counterattack was very strong, with Harvey having all of the British armor being deployed to the north flank and employed in the massive armored attack. The German forces in defense of the Ajdabiya Line were forced back in a great offensive, and on 2 December 1942 Beutler was compelled to retreat. The battle was costly for the Axis Powers, as they had lost virtually all of their armor in the battle and had suffered many infantry losses. Soon after, the British pressed the attack in the Battle of El Agheila, defeating Rommel again.